Bday Weekend in Chicago and Lake Geneva - June 2023

Dinner at Oriole

We had just left Chicago on Monday and were back already on Wednesday, this time no longer residents! When we had booked our bday activities for the weekend, we thought we would still be living in the area so rather than cancel everything, we just flew back!  We stayed two nights downtown for free at a Marriott - mainly b/c we had dinner reservations at Shawna's favorite restaurant, Oriole on Thursday night.  It was just as good as we had remembered it - with drinks starting in the bar area, followed by a course and a drink watching the open kitchen and then the rest of the meal and wine pairings seated at our table.  Some of the dishes were repeats but some were new as well. Everything was spectacular!

Dinner at Oriole

Shawna worked from the hotel on Thursday while Keith went to the dentist and to check our mail at our house before turning in the final set of keys to the realtor - the closing was the next day.  On Friday, we went for an early morning walk along the lake and then Shawna did a few calls in the morning before we walked to the rental car place to pick up the car.  We drove the 1.5 hours to Lake Geneva where we spent the weekend at the Grand Geneva Resort & Spa.  We unfortunately were disappointed with the hotel - we had booked a villa which turned out to be a townhouse and the hotel itself was what you would expect from a conference hotel built in the 80s.  It also was not directly on the lake but rather a few miles from the lake and town.  That said, we still had a nice time!  

Front entrance of Grand Geneva

After checking in, we settled into our room and had some wine and cheese that Keith had ordered for our birthday.  Of course, it was not waiting in our room when we arrived so we went for a walk while Keith sorted it out via email with the concierge as he wanted to surprise Shawna.  We then went to the spa where we each got an 80 min massage - both were very good.  That evening, we had dinner at Ristorante Brissago which is the Italian restaurant in the hotel.  The food was just OK.

Drinks at the hotel

On Saturday, we went for an hour walk around the property and then relaxed at the pool - having lunch there - until mid-afternoon.  We then drove into town to the lake to do a one hour boat tour of the lake which turned out to be quite fun - we got to see many of the mega mansions built along the lake, some dating back to the 1880s!  That evening, we had dinner at Geneva Chophouse, the steak restaurant in the hotel.  This time the food was quite tasty.  The restaurant comped us a couple of desserts in celebration of our birthdays!

Boat tour around Lake Geneva

Sunday was quite cold and rainy so we had to adjust our plans.  We relaxed in the hotel in the morning, then went into town to have lunch at Oakfire where we shared a pizza which was yummy.  We then did a 1.5 hour tour of the Yerkes Observatory which is a beautifully restored building where many astronomers studied and has the largest refracting telescope in the world - the tour was very interesting.  We drove back to Chicago where Keith dropped off Shawna at O'Hare to head to CT for her final week of work and retirement festivities while Keith went to Midway to fly back to TX.

Yertes Observatory